A/N: Not mine. This chapter is mostly setting things up for later on. I sort of feel like it doesn't go very far, but at the same time I feel it was a necessary chapter to move things forward. Constructive criticism always welcome.
A/N2: I'm so sorry for the delay in updating. Summer and work have both kept me exceptionally busy.
The list of clinic and doctors in the city that provided abortion services on a sliding fee scale and/or had a reputation for being exceptionally kind to the "working girls" was not particularly long. There were twenty "providers," so to speak, in all.
By the end of the day Goren and Eames had made it through the first eight names on the list. It wasn't terribly difficult work because all they had to do was show up with subpoena's allowing them to query the clinicians with whether or not they had ever treated any of the deceased. In the event that they had they were required to produce their medical records.
Only the sixth clinic they had visited had ever seen any of the girls, and it had been when they had offered free HIV testing two years earlier.
As they left the eighth clinic Eames let out a small yawn.
"I'm going to head home, rest up before I have to meet Julie later."
"You guys are going out again?"
"Well, after last nights mostly unsuccessful training… plus I need to ensure that Julie and Matt can work well together. If this guy has killed a girl every ten days then we only have eight more nights of practice. It's not a long time in the grand scheme of things."
Silence fell heavy then. Like a blanket on a king-sized bed that you could just get lost under.
Bobby broke first.
"I, uh, I'm gonna go back to the station and figure out the best plan of attack for tomorrow."
"Right. Listen, do you mind taking Matt with you on interviews tomorrow? I have some stuff I want to do with Julie. Some physical training."
"Uh, yeah that should be okay."
"Thanks. Okay… I'll, um, I'll see you later then."
With that Alex turned on her heel and walked in the direction of the One Police Plaza garage entrance, leaving Bobby to stare after her. He wanted to stop her, to hash things out then and there, but he refrained. He figured she had enough on her mind, and decided to let her go home and get a few hours sleep rather than tying them both into an emotional knot.
&
Alex's second outing with Julie and Matt went over slightly better than the first. If nothing else the pair managed not to air their differences in front of their coworkers. Still, it was apparent that differences existed. Alex realized that they were young and that because of this fact they had not yet learned how to hide their displeasure with one another from other people.
Julie for her part seemed to have at least gained some confidence over the course of the 24 hours that had passed and was slightly more aggressive. She brought in 7 out of the 10 'Johns' she encountered that night. By 3 a.m. it was drizzling and Alex decided they could all call it a night.
She was torn about what to do about Bobby. She was annoyed with him for not respecting her desire to wait until she was ready to talk but she also realized that she couldn't stay annoyed forever. She certainly knew she wasn't ready to risk what they had going for them in their personal lives because she was annoyed. Still, she wasn't ready to go crawl into bed with him.
Alex had decided that it would have been wrong on her part to get into bed with Bobby without feeling like she could be open and honest with him about everything that had happened to lead her to this point so far. Her history with Paul, her life with Joe… yes, those things were in the past but they still made her who she was.
So, unclear about how she would approach the situation, but sure that she wasn't ready for a middle of the night conversation about it, Alex steered her car in the direction of her own home. She figured that even if Bobby was there at least it was her own space and she could sleep on her own couch.
&
At 10:30 the next morning Alex woke feeling somewhat rested, somewhat refreshed. She had, in fact, come home to an empty house. While she still had some trouble walking into her house alone she was certainly not petrified of doing so.
A bowl of cereal, a well-worn pair of jeans, and a packed gym bag later Alex departed for One P.P. She had no need for a shower, as nice as it would have been to have one, not with what she was about to go do.
By the time she stepped off the elevator she was feeling almost a little excited. The adrenaline rush she got just from the thought of the gym put her in higher spirits. The thought of having a new recruit to train forced a small smile to form.
Nothing like some quality time with a punching bag to work out some serious stress.
Surveying the scene quickly Alex saw there was no sign of Matt and figured that soon the young man would be able to attest to the fact that when Bobby had a plan of action laid out he liked to start on it as early as possible. Further inspection found Julie at her desk filling out paperwork and looking somewhat at ease.
"Hey, Julie."
"Detective Eames, good morning. I wasn't expecting to see you until tonight, but then your partner called Matt and asked him to come help him do some interviews and relayed to me the message that you had some work to do with me today."
"You could say that. Get your stuff, we're going down to the gym."
"The gym?"
"Yes, Julie. It's a place where people go to get exercise. More specifically in this case it is the gym used by most of the cops based out of One Police Plaza with extensive training facilities in it."
"Right, I just… I meant… what are we going to do at the gym/? Race each other on the indoor track?"
"Duff, when I'm done with you you're going to wish that all you had to do was beat me in a race."
Julie paled slightly as the hamster wheel in her head began spinning rapidly with the possibilities of what was to come. Alex Eames was a detective known for always keeping her physique in prime condition.
Alex turned and headed back for the elevators, at which point Captain Kemp chose to exit his office.
"Detective Eames." His voice drifted across the Vice bullpen like a chilly fall wind.
"Captain Kemp," she acknowledged with disdain.
"Where you taking the young one today?"
"Down to the gym. I want to see what kind of physical skill she's got. This guys vicious and quick. If she picks him up a few nights from now I want to know that she is prepared."
"She's got the same training as everybody else in Vice, Eames."
"Yeah, well I don't think she has a captain that has concerned himself with making sure that every one of his officers stays current with their fitness training. You know, something that should be continually worked on even after the level of requirement is met?"
"Are you questioning my ability as a Captain, Detective? I can assure you that I want that pretty body to stay a pretty body otherwise what good is she to me?"
"She's not here to be your pretty body. She's here to be a cop and she doesn't have to be 'pretty' to do her job. There is more to fitness and training than being pretty. You'd do best if you remembered that."
Kemp stared long and hard at Alex. She figured that while he did outrank her that it wasn't his place to write her up for insubordination. She also figured that he wasn't going to engage in a pissing match with Ross over who got to be in charge of whom.
Kemp had always been a chauvinistic pig. In their tenure as partners he treated her like a second class citizen and it seemed that now, due to his rank, he treated all those around him as such and not just the women.
"Duff, you coming?" Alex called over her shoulder?
Julie materialized behind Alex and the two stepped onto the elevators, leaving Captain Kemp to stare after them.
When they arrived at the fitness facilities, which were located below street level at One PP, Julie suddenly appeared to hesitate. "So, uh, what exactly are we going to do down here?"
"Well, word is you got the same training as everyone else when you went through the Academy but that Kemp seems to have abandoned most of the rigorous training that we used to go through in Vice."
"We still do some…"
"I've heard, but it doesn't sound like it used to be. We used to go through the most rigorous training on the force, merely because we came into physical contact with perps every night. Anyway…" Alex began to trail off as they approached the boxing ring "this is my friend Dave."
Before Eames and Duff stood a man larger than even Eames' partner. Dave appeared to Julie to be half giant.
"Dave, this is my new friend Julie Duff. She's one of the girls they've got in Vice these days."
"Nice to meet you Julie." Dave extended one large hand to Julie, and it seemed to swallow hers whole.
"Nice to meet you, too, Dave." Alex watched as Julie seemed to wilt in the presence of the larger man. She hoped, after a day with Dave, Julie would have all the confidence she would ever need.
"So, Dave, what do you have planned for my new girl today?"
"Well I figured we'd review some basic self-defense techniques then maybe put her in the ring with one of my larger guys and see if she can take him down."
Sounds good to me, Alex thought. Her plan was to make sure Julie could handle herself properly with someone much larger than her. Then, later when they were out on the street again, Alex was going to have one Dave's larger male colleagues approach Julie on the street as a decoy 'John.' He would be a more aggressive 'John,' physically and Julie, in her the heat of the moment, would have to take him down unaware that he was actually a cop who would know where to draw the line before he could really hurt her.
This plan would also test Julie's partner, Matt. Eames wanted to see that Matt would react accordingly if he thought Julie was in real danger. She wanted to be sure, to be absolutely certain, that Matt would put his differences with Julie aside and come to her aid if she really needed him.
With only seven nights of practice left, fewer if this sicko decided to deviate from his previous pattern, Eames wanted everyone on their "A-game."
There was no more potent an ingredient for failure than a team at war with itself.
